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Contents
3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 13
Introduction
This briefing explores the differences between boys’ and girls’ use of ICT, both within
and outside school, and for both educational and leisure purposes. A particular
focus of this briefing is on how girls use ICT, what impact it has on them, and
whether they are disadvantaged by the increasing use of ICT in education. It is
written in the context of a well-established literature on ICT and gender, particularly
on the two major themes of ICT helping to narrow the attainment gap between boys
and girls and persistent concerns about the numbers of females gaining
qualifications in ICT and entering technology-related professions. As well as
examining evidence from the research literature, this briefing will also consider the
implications of recent technological developments and trends in the use of ICT.
• There are few significant differences in girls’ access to and use of technology
within schools, but at home the differences are more marked: girls have lower
levels of access at home compared with boys, and generally use ICT less.
Girls use ICT more for school work, whereas boys use it more for leisure
purposes. A large proportion of this difference can be accounted for by boys’
greater use of computer/console games.
• Girls are more dependent than boys on school for their access to ICT and for
guidance on how to use it. Boys have greater experience of using ICT in the
home, but the structured use of ICT girls encounter within school goes some
way towards redressing the balance.
• Girls prefer social and creative uses of ICT. They like to work collaboratively
and enjoy using technology to learn, in both formal and informal contexts. In
the home, online social networking has become an extremely popular for girls.
• Although there is little evidence that girls are less skilled than boys in the use
of ICT (indeed, in some areas they show greater skill), girls generally feel less
confident in their ability to use technology.
• There is no evidence to suggest that ICT intrinsically suits boys better than
girls; there is, however, compelling evidence that the competitive, skill-based,
non-collaborative nature of many computer games (even educational ones) is
de-motivating for girls.
• Whereas boys are interested in technology for its own sake, girls see ICT as a
means of pursuing their interests and furthering their learning. This may help
to explain the lower number of females studying ICT or following a career in
technology, but it can also mean that girls’ use of ICT is more productive in
terms of learning gains.
• Overall, the evidence suggests that girls’ interest in ICT decreases as they
progress through school.
• The context in which girls use ICT in school is crucial to realising the benefits
of technology: girls do less well when working together with boys, possibly as
a result of both their own and boys’ stereotypical views of technology.
• Mobile phones are more popular and more heavily used by girls than boys.
• Girls are more likely to both suffer from and engage in cyber-bullying than
boys.
• Recent trends in ICT may prove particularly beneficial to girls: increasing use
of social and collaborative technologies, a growing emphasis on ICT
integration within subjects, and a move towards narrative and character-
based games could mean that technology, both at school and at home, is
increasingly aligned with girls’ interests and preferences.
However, evidence from smaller scale studies suggests that where pupils are given
a choice of applications to use in lessons, differences do emerge – an observational
study of a primary classroom (Waite et al. 2006) found that boys tended to favour
database software, file manipulation, CD-ROMs and the internet, while girls
preferred communication, publishing and photo manipulation software. This echoes
the findings of a number of studies which have shown that girls generally prefer more
social uses of computers, both in and out of school.
1.1 Motivation
According to both teachers and pupils, ICT can motivate both boys and girls, albeit in
different ways and to varying extents. A DfES study of the motivational effect of ICT
(Passey 2004) found that boys seemed to be gaining more in certain cases, but girls
were not being disadvantaged. The authors suggest that ICT helps boys move from
a ‘burst’ pattern of working to a more persistent one – in other words, ICT can help
boys work more like girls.
Teachers in the study believed that boys were motivated more by higher levels of
access to ICT, and where ICT activities were competitive in nature and short in
duration. A few teachers reported that girls need more support than boys in their use
of ICT. This may however be due to the different approaches girls and boys take to
working with ICT, rather than a lack of skills – a study from the Netherlands found
that girls preferred to have an explanation before starting ICT activities, whereas
boys would rather try things out for themselves (Volman et al. 2005).
An earlier DfES study (Hayward et al. 2003) found that while the majority of boys and
girls said they enjoyed using computers, boys were more likely than to say they
found them more motivating than traditional methods. Very few girls said they found
computers less motivating, but girls were more likely to say they made no difference.
The study found this trend became less noticeable with age.
An explanation for the difference in the motivational effect of ICT between girls and
boys may lie in the design of educational software and content. Even pre-school
educational software has been found to contain a significantly greater number of
male characters than female, promoting at a very young age the idea that ICT is
associated with boys (Aubrey and Dahl 2008). Cooper (2006) argues that the focus
on using ICT to raise boys’ achievement has meant that the design of educational
software has been geared towards the game-like qualities of points-scoring and
competition that appeal particularly to boys. Cooper cites research which shows that
girls suffer from lower motivation, higher anxiety and a decrease in performance
when using software of this kind. On the other hand, when girls are given software
which is more gender-neutral such deficits disappear, suggesting that there is
nothing intrinsically de-motivating about ICT itself.
There is evidence to suggest that the difference in ICT confidence between boys and
girls is narrowing (Faulkner 2002) but most studies have found that girls’ confidence
with ICT is somewhat lower than that of boys. Girls are less likely to believe they will
succeed at computer-related tasks, and when they do, they are more likely to
attribute their success to luck rather than skill (Cooper 2006). Equally, girls are more
likely to see failure as being a result of their own lack of ability (regardless of the
actual cause), unlike boys, who tend to blame the equipment. However, lower self-
efficacy does not necessarily mean that girls’ skill levels are lower than boys’
(Sanders 2005). The overall message from the research is that girls consistently
under-estimate their ability with ICT. The study by Volman et al. (2005) is typical in
finding greater gender differences in (subjective) ICT attitude than (objective) ICT
competence.
1.3 Attainment
There is a growing body of evidence (eg Younger et al. 2005) that ICT can raise the
achievement of boys and help to close the attainment gap between boys and girls.
Recent evidence from Welsh schools shows that boys respond well to teaching
approaches making regular and consistent use of ICT (Estyn 2008). In particular,
interactive learning opportunities involving learning by doing and immediate feedback
have been found to be successful. A DfES study on gender and education also
found the capacity for ICT to improve the presentation of boys’ work and allow them
to draft and re-draft work more easily had a positive impact on boys’ achievement in
literacy in primary schools (DfES 2007).
The term ‘ICT’ does of course cover a wide variety of different technologies. Most of
the studies cited above relate to “computers” or to ICT in general, but there is
evidence – albeit patchy – on certain types of technology.
The research has shown that introducing interactive whiteboards into schools has
led to an increase in whole-class teaching (Somekh et al. 2007). This in itself may
have gender implications as boys have a tendency to dominate classroom
interaction and there is evidence that this tendency becomes even stronger in
classrooms with interactive whiteboards (Smith et al. 2007). It is, however, relatively
early days in the implementation of interactive whiteboards in schools and the
gender implications of their use needs to be investigated further.
Digital video: The Becta Digital Video pilot study (Reid et al. 2002) is an example of
how technology can help to break down gender stereotypes in a way that benefits
girls in particular. At one level, the study showed that some stereotypes were
reinforced – boys would ‘rush at’ or ‘hog’ the technology, while girls planned more
patiently and thoroughly, were more consistent editors and were drawn to ‘design
decisions’. However, using the technology gave girls opportunities which may not
have been afforded them in other learning situations – for example, using digital
video enabled girls to speak out more and to become more involved in class
activities such as directing films and making editing decisions.
The context in which ICT is used in school is therefore very important. Cooper
(2006) found evidence that working with ICT together with boys can have a negative
impact on girls’ anxiety and performance. In one study, girls and boys were asked to
use a problem-solving game in pairs; some were grouped in same-sex pairs and
others in mixed pairs. Boys’ performance increased markedly in the mixed-sex
pairs, while girls’ performance decreased.
However, it is worth noting that despite the success of such clubs, there are those
who believe that creating clubs, activities and software aimed specifically at girls is
actually perpetuating the stereotypical idea that ‘mainstream’ ICT is the domain of
boys.
ICT in the home does of course cover as wide a range of technologies as ICT in
school – games consoles, mobile phones, even electronic dance mats – and it is
important to bear in mind that the pattern of differences between boys’ and girls’
access to various technologies is far from uniform. Whereas games consoles are
largely the preserve of boys, mobile phones are more popular among girls. Patterns
of use and access to specific technologies are dealt with in more detail below.
2.2.1 Games
There is a consensus in the literature that playing computer games is the activity
which accounts for much of the difference in girls’ and boys’ out of school use of ICT
(Kent and Facer 2004). Valentine et al. (2005) found that 70 per cent of boys used
consoles at least once a week compared with only 32 per cent of girls. Girls are less
likely to be intense game players and more often play games when bored, rather
than as a first choice activity (Kirriemuir and MacFarlane 2004). A BBC-
commissioned report (BBC 2005) of UK game-playing found that while the gender
split amongst gamers is not that great (45 per cent female, 55 per cent male), those
who play games more frequently are more likely to be male (27 per cent compared
to 21 per cent female). More recently, Ofcom (2008) found that boys reported higher
use of games consoles than girls and were far more likely to cite games as the
media activity they would miss most if it were taken away (21 per cent of 12-15 year
old boys compared with 3 per cent of girls). A study of pre-school children in
Scotland suggested that game-playing is seen as a gendered activity by parents:
games consoles were bought primarily for boys, suggesting that girls’ opportunities
to play games are restricted from an early age (Plowman and Stephen 2003).
There are also major differences in the kinds of games boys and girls like to play.
Boys tend to prefer sports, action adventure and violent action games, whereas girls
prefer educational games, puzzles and fantasy adventure. Valentine et al. (2005)
also found that girls tend to prefer simulation games and are more likely than boys to
use games that are overtly educational. Dickey (2006) highlights the features which
girls prefer in game design:
• exploration
However, despite showing a preference for educational games, girls have been
found to be more sceptical than boys about the educational value of games. In
contrast to boys, they do not believe that games provide unique learning
opportunities and see game-based learning as just another way to learn.
Research suggests that it is this gender imbalance in gaming culture that not only
accounts for the difference in how long girls and boys spend using ICT but also leads
to other differences in terms of ICT attitudes, confidence and competence (Faulkner
2002). However, the features of game design preferred by girls are now becoming
more commonplace, certainly within the context of games for learning. It could be
argued therefore that the difference in game-playing between boys and girls will
become less marked as more and more games are produced that appeal to girls and
which (in contrast to the picture painted by Cooper (2006) above) play to girls’
strengths rather than boys’.
What is certain, however, is the rapid growth in the popularity of online social
networking and the impact this is having on young peoples – and particularly girls’ –
use of the internet. The 2008 Ofcom Media Literacy Audit (Ofcom 2008) found that
12-15 year old girls are considerably more likely to have set up a social networking
profile than boys (51 per cent compared to 38 per cent). The 2008 Audit also found
that girls make broader use of the internet than boys, engaging in a wider range of
creative and participatory activities online; in particular, there are notable differences
in what may be termed ‘Web 2.0’ activities such as adding comments to a website
and posting an online diary or blog. The authors suggest there may well be a link
between these two findings – they argue that it is girls’ involvement in social
networking that introduces them to these activities.
The idea that girls are becoming more expert and extensive users of the internet
than boys is also supported by Ofcom’s findings regarding online information literacy.
Girls are slightly less trusting than boys of online content and are slightly more likely
to make checks on what they find on the internet (Ofcom 2008).
This is in line with several recent surveys which have found that girls are more likely
to have been bullied using ICT than boys. According to the MSN Cyber-bullying
report (2006), girls are:
The Anti-bullying Alliance (Smith et al. 2006) also found that girls were more likely to
be cyberbullied than boys. In all cases girls reported a greater degree of
victimization than boys but gender differences were statistically significant for
phonecall bullying, both inside and outside of school, and for text message bullying
outside of school. Girls are also more likely to be cyber-bullies themselves.
research has also showed that high levels of leisure use of ICT may be positively
associated with a negative impact on educational attainment (Valentine et al. 2005).
Valentine et al. (2005) also found that for both boys and girls, home use of ICT for
education is modelled on use within school. As research has shown that girls learn
more about ICT at school than boys do (Hayward et al. 2003), the importance of the
school’s role in enabling girls to make best use of ICT should not be underestimated.
3 Conclusion
It is important to remember that there is as much variation within genders as there is
between them. The inconsistent and sometimes contradictory findings of many of
the studies cited above points to the fact that gender should be seen not in isolation
but in combination with number of factors – socio-economic status, ethnicity, identity,
pedagogy and classroom management – which can influence how boys and girls use
technology and the impact that use has on them. Nor is it helpful to perpetuate
positive or negative stereotypes relating to either gender: it is not true to say
technology is engaging and appealing to all boys any more than it is to say
technology is unappealing to girls (Littleton et al. 2006).
Overall though it seems that, unlike boys, girls are generally not motivated by the
use of technology for its own sake. The stereotypical notion of computers being the
domain of males still exists, as does a tendency for the content and design of
software to favour boys’ interests and preferences. This leads to girls’ lack of
confidence and perceived lack of ability; hence the lower numbers of girls interested
in IT as a career or engaging in more prolific or advanced use of ICT, particularly
gaming and programming. However, that is not to say that girls do not enjoy using
ICT in their learning and in building and maintaining social networks – indeed they
are more proficient in this kind of use, and related creative and participatory
activities, than boys. Recent developments in social and collaborative technologies
and the shift of emphasis towards the embedding of ICT across school subjects
would in fact seem to favour girls more than boys. Even in the traditionally male
domain of games, trends in game design have the potential to make games more
appealing to and appropriate for girls. This carries with it the risk that ICT will widen
the attainment gap between boys and girls rather than narrow it.
A lack of evidence means it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions about the
implications of these developments but what we can say with some confidence is
that girls rely on schools to teach them about technology more than boys do – it is
therefore clear that schools have an important role to play in giving girls access to
technology, providing guidance and support, and employing the appropriate
pedagogical strategies to enable both boys and girls to use ICT to its full potential.
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